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Ellington 1936-1940 Variety/Vocalion/OKeh Small Group Sessions


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Now on the "Future Projects" page, here:

November 2006

MOSAIC BOXED SET

Duke Ellington: The Complete 1936-1940 Variety, Vocalion and OKeh Small Group Sessions (MD7-235) (7 CDs - $119)

Our November release is one that has longed to be issued in its entirety. This set will be a 7 disc set covering all those seminal Helen Oakley and Irving Mills produced sides from 1935 to 1940. With Ellington at the piano these recordings were led by Barney Bigard, Johnny Hodges, Rex Stewart and Cootie Williams and are a significant display of how Ellington was able to arrange for small group and bring the absolute best out of his sidemen.

In some cases, these performances represented the first time collectors and fans were hearing now classic Ellingtonia: Juan Tizol's composition "Caravan" from a Barney Bigard session; Cootie Williams' "Echoes of Harlem"; vocal versions by the forgotten Mary McHugh on "Lost In Meditation" and "Prelude To A Kiss"; Rex Stewart's peerless cornet conceptions on "Rexatious" and "The Back Room Romp". And the Johnny Hodges masterpieces alone consist of "Blue Reverie", "Jeep's Blues", "The Jeep Is Jumpin'", a trio side with Duke and bassist Billy Taylor on "Finesse" and one of the most plaintive of these Hodges releases, "Wanderlust".

The set will also include small group sessions led by Ellington, his piano solos and the duet sides with bassist Jimmie Blanton. There is also the Gotham Stompers session that comprises both the Ellington band and the Chick Webb band with Chick at the drums. All known alternate takes are included here as well, some of which only came out on short-lived bootleg LPs in the 1960s and 1970s. The transfers of this material plus the thoughtful liner notes, come from the preeminent Ellington collector Steven Lasker. Steven has also provided us with a rare rehearsal disc on “Echoes of Harlem”. There are 173 tracks in all with rare photographs, a complete updated discography and in-depth liner notes by Lasker.

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Wow!!This is great. Now if Sony would only release all full band sides they have from the same era.....

High hopes for that as well. I have a great deal of this material via the two Columbia 2-CD sets and the Chronological Classics, but I'll bite on this set the week it comes out. It's gonna be a happy holiday season...

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Wow!!This is great. Now if Sony would only release all full band sides they have from the same era.....

High hopes for that as well. I have a great deal of this material via the two Columbia 2-CD sets and the Chronological Classics, but I'll bite on this set the week it comes out. It's gonna be a happy holiday season...

I'm happy with the idea of having Mosaic box the Small Group sides but I was really hoping to see the full Orchestra sessions from the same era being released first. Been wishing for that one for years!

Have all this material already (on French CBS vinyls, Classics, CD, etc...) but the sound on those does not do justice to the glory of the music!

Hope Mosaic will rectify this!

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Wow!!This is great. Now if Sony would only release all full band sides they have from the same era.....

High hopes for that as well. I have a great deal of this material via the two Columbia 2-CD sets and the Chronological Classics, but I'll bite on this set the week it comes out. It's gonna be a happy holiday season...

I'm happy with the idea of having Mosaic box the Small Group sides but I was really hoping to see the full Orchestra sessions from the same era being released first. Been wishing for that one for years!

Have all this material already (on French CBS vinyls, Classics, CD, etc...) but the sound on those does not do justice to the glory of the music!

Hope Mosaic will rectify this!

agreed but this should be a great set none the less, I'm in. :D

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I always wondered why SONY didn't do that at the occasion of the Duke centennial in 1999. Perhaps they were afraid their set(s) wouldn't sell as much as they wanted because there was the RCA set.

I sincerely hope Mosaic covers the remaining big band sides from the SONY vault, and these smaller sets are more affordable than that big RCA box was back then. I have all but one of the French CBS 2-LP sets, and know the music is excellent.

I still hope for a Columbia late 1940's to early 1950's set as well ..... but I'd take Mosaic singles with bonus material just as well. Seems Columbia Legacy won't do these any more.

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...

I'm happy with the idea of having Mosaic box the Small Group sides but I was really hoping to see the full Orchestra sessions from the same era being released first. Been wishing for that one for years!...

...

I still hope for a Columbia late 1940's to early 1950's set as well .....

Me too and Me too

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